Do you think Ergomica Consulting has contributed to the problem facing O’Hara? If so, how?

Refernce Case: Ergomica Growth and Solltram Hotels

A senior manager at Ergonomica Consulting was under pressure to demonstrate to her client Solltram Hotels that the hotel's investment in LED lighting would provide a payback. Winning the client's buy-in would lead to an extension of the contract with the client, development of a new specialist practice area within Ergonomica Consulting, improvement of the manager’s chances of promotion, and the cementing of her reputation. However, at a critical moment, the manager discovered that a previously hidden error in her main spreadsheet, which contained over two million data points, had resulted in her overestimating the cost savings for the client. Should she conceal the mistake and win the important contract, improving her chances of promotion? Or should she own up to the mistake and risk losing the account, her promotion, and her reputation?

Learning Objective:

This case is appropriate for courses in management consultancy, ethics in business, and supply chain management. The case discussion and analysis are designed to help students achieve the following objectives:

Understand the broad range of competencies required in consulting, and how these competencies have to be applied at the right time during the lifecycle of an assignment with a client;

Gain insight into how human error can creep into projects where large amounts of complex data are being handled by individual consultants without oversight from others;

Learn about the evolving nature of a relationship between a consultancy firm and a client firm; and

Learn that trust can be hard to earn, but easy to lose.